Architecture and power are Siamese twins joined at the hip. Rulers have always wanted to translate their power into brick and mortar -- from the tower of Babel and Egypt's pharaohs to Chairman Mao, Joseph Stalin, and Adolf Hitler. I. M. Pei, in his contract given by FranÁois Mitterand to renovate the Louvre, was commissioned to re-establish the glory of France. Serious resources have been committed by rulers to display their strength and grandeur with architecture.

David had finally consolidated his kingdom and established his city on Mount Zion. The cost of this had been enormous and David's hands were bloody from the fighting and intrigue. Now he lived in a fine palace with cedar walls on Mount Zion, and Israel, a nomadic nation of runaway slaves in a tiny crossroads country, was at least…