Margaret Barker, describing some of the ancient myths about the Jerusalem Temple in The Gate of Heaven:

The rock on which the altar stood… was the place from which all the waters of the earth had to be controlled…. The temple was built on a crucial spot; it was the bastion against ever threatening chaos. Evil and disorder… were represented by the subterranean waters of the great deep, waters which had to be driven back before the creation could be established and God’s people live in safety. The temple blocked these forces of evil and prevented their eruption. (pgs. 18-19)