Ante-Nicene Fathers/Volume IX/Origen on John/Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John/Book X/Chapter 25

25.&#160; Further Spiritualizing of Solomon&#8217;s Temple-Building.

It is worth while to enquire how, on the one hand, Solomon the king is said to have built the temple, and on the other the master-builder whom Solomon sent and fetched, &#8220;Hiram of Tyre, the son of a woman who was a widow; and he was of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass, and filled with wisdom and understanding, to work all works in brass; and he was brought in to King Solomon and wrought all his works.&#8221;&#160; Here I ask whether Solomon can be taken for the first-born of all creation, and Hiram for the man whom he assumed, from the constraint of men&#8212;for the word Tyrians means &#8220;constrainers&#8221;&#8212;the man who derived his birth from nature, and being filled with all manner of art and wisdom and understanding, was brought in to cooperate with the first-born of all creation, and to build the temple.&#160; In this temple there are also windows, placed obliquely and out of sight, so that the illumination of the divine light may enter for salvation, and&#8212;why should I go into particulars?&#8212;that the body of Christ, the Church, may be found having the plan of the spiritual house and temple of God.&#160; As I said before, we require that wisdom which is hidden in a mystery, and which he alone can apprehend who is able to say, &#8220;But we have the mind of Christ,&#8221;&#8212;we require that wisdom to interpret spiritually each detail of what is said in accordance with the will of Him who caused it to be written.&#160; To enter into these details is not in accordance with our present subject.&#160; What has been said may suffice to let us understand how &#8220;He spake about the temple of His body.&#8221;