First Brick

Mesopotamian temples were sometimes made of bricks, and, according to M. J. Geller (a contribution to Figurative Language in the Ancient Near East), great care was taken with the first brick, the “auspicious brick.”

Geller writes, “When a temple was not built of stone (the usual practice) but of brick, the greatest care was devoted to the first brick. The right clay was sought out and tested, it had to be ‘free of gravel, stones, roots, bones, and had to be fine-grained, of a uniform colour and pleasant to handle.’”

The brick contained the earth and fire that were the elements of the sacrificer himself, with the implication that the temple-builder was building a sacrificial body.

He quotes a text describing the molding of the first brick by Gudea, a third-millennium ruler: “Gudea put the clay in the mould, (25) he acted precisely as prescribed, (26) and behold, he succeeded in making a most beautiful brick for the house. (27) Meanwhile, all the bystanders (literally: lands) sprinkled oil, (28) sprinkled cedar essence, (1–2) while he let his city and (the whole of) Lagaš (2) rejoice . . . He carried the brick—a lovely tiara(?) which reached up to heaven—and went among his people. . . . as the (further) bricks amassed to make the house (literally: as they raised their heads to the house) (18) they were the cows of the moon god which shine in their pen.’”

Biblical temples were made of stone, and not even the altar was made of bricks. Altars were earth, or piled stones, or a frame of bronze with a grate in the center to hold sacrificial meat. 

But there is something that resembles brick-making: The formation of Adam from the dust of the earth. Genesis 2 even uses yatzar, the verb associated with pottery, to describe Adam’s creation. The only brick-making is a human brick-making. Adam is the first “auspicious brick” of the house of humanity.

Perhaps.