1 Kings 6:14-38 Gold, Gold and more Gold!

 ”So Solomon built the temple and finished it. And he built the inside walls of the temple with cedar boards; from the floor of the temple to the ceiling he paneled the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the temple with planks of cypress. Then he built the twenty-cubit room at the rear of the temple, from floor to ceiling, with cedar boards; he built it inside as the inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place. And in front of it the temple sanctuary was forty cubits long. The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with ornamental buds and open flowers. All was cedar; there was no stone to be seen. And he prepared the inner sanctuary inside the temple, to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid it with pure gold, and overlaid the altar of cedar. So Solomon overlaid the inside of the temple with pure gold. He stretched gold chains across the front of the inner sanctuary, and overlaid it with gold. The whole temple he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the temple; also he overlaid with gold the entire altar that was by the inner sanctuary. Inside the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. One wing of the cherub was five cubits, and the other wing of the cherub five cubits: ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other. And the other cherub was ten cubits; both cherubim were of the same size and shape. The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was the other cherub. Then he set the cherubim inside the inner room; and they stretched out the wings of the cherubim so that the wing of the one touched one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. And their wings touched each other in the middle of the room. Also he overlaid the cherubim with gold. Then he carved all the walls of the temple all around, both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. And the floor of the temple he overlaid with gold, both the inner and outer sanctuaries. For the entrance of the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood; the lintel and doorposts were one-fifth of the wall. The two doors were of olive wood; and he carved on them figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold; and he spread gold on the cherubim and on the palm trees. So for the door of the sanctuary he also made doorposts of olive wood, one-fourth of the wall. And the two doors were of cypress wood; two panels comprised one folding door, and two panels comprised the other folding door. Then he carved cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers on them, and overlaid them with gold applied evenly on the carved work. And he built the inner court with three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams. In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv. And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its details and according to all its plans. So he was seven years in building it.“

‭‭I Kings‬ ‭6‬:‭14‬-‭38‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high: Special attention was given to the Holy of Holies or Most Holy place. It was a 30-foot (10 meter) cube, completely overlaid with gold. It also had two large sculptures of cherubim (15-foot or 5 meters in height), which were overlaid with gold.

i. There were gold chains across the veil separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place. “The gold chains, stretched across the front of the inner sanctuary, served to strengthen the concept of the inaccessibility of this Most Holy Place” (Patterson and Austel).

ii. Two cherubim of olive wood: These two large sculptures inside the Most Holy Place faced the entrance to this inner room, so as soon as the High Priest entered he saw these giant guardians of the presence of God facing him.

iii. And the floor of the temple he overlaid with gold: There was gold everywhere in the temple. The walls were covered with gold (1 Kings 6:20-22), the floor was covered with gold (1 Kings 6:30) and gold was hammered into the carvings on the doors (1 Kings 6:32).

b. He carved all the walls of the temple all around, both the inner and outer sanctuaries, with carved figures of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers: This was after the pattern of the tabernacle, which had woven designs of cherubim on the inner covering.

c. And he built the inner court: This inner court was the court of the priests where the altar and laver were set and sacrifice was conducted. Outside it was the great court, where the people came to pray. Outside it was the court of the women, and outside that was the court of the Gentiles.

i. It must always be remembered that under the Old Covenant, the temple was not for the people of Israel. It was only for the priests to meet with God on behalf of the people. The people gathered and worshipped in the outer courtyard.

d. So he was seven years in building it: When the temple was finished it was a spectacular building. It was easy for Israel to focus on the temple of God instead of the God of the temple. Yet without continued faithfulness to God, the temple’s glory quickly faded. This glorious temple was plundered just five years after the death of Solomon (1 Kings 14:25-27). (Guzik)

Gold, Gold and more Gold!

I can’t imagine the amount of gold that was used in the construction of the temple! And to think it was all plundered just five years after Solomon’s death!

I have to believe it was because the Israelites didn’t keep the Lord’s commandments and walk in them?

“Concerning this temple which you are building, if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My word with you, which I spoke to your father David. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel.”

Do you walk with Jesus every day of the week or only on Sunday?

Blessings 

1 Kings 6:11-13 Walk in My Statutes!

 ”Then the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying: “Concerning this temple which you are building, if you walk in My statutes, execute My judgments, keep all My commandments, and walk in them, then I will perform My word with you, which I spoke to your father David. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake My people Israel.”“

‭‭I Kings‬ ‭6‬:‭11‬-‭13‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. If you walk in My statutes: This was a conditional promise to Solomon and his descendants. It depended on the obedience of Solomon and his descendants.

b. I will perform My word with you… And I will dwell among the children of Israel: God promised an obedient Solomon that he would reign and be blessed, fulfilling the promises God made to David about his reign (2 Samuel 7:5-16). He also promised that His special presence would remain among Israel as a nation.

i. We might say that there was nothing particularly new in this promise. These are essentially the same promises of the Old Covenant made to Israel at Sinai. But this was an important reminder and renewal of previous promises.

c. And I will dwell among the children of Israel: God was careful not to say that He would live in the temple the way pagans thought their gods lived in temples. He would dwell among the children of Israel. The temple was a special place for man to meet with God. (Guzik)

Walk in My Statutes!

”Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”“

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭22‬:‭37‬-‭40‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

“Moses summed up all in the ten commandments, to which, truly interpreted, all the precepts of Scripture are reducible. Christ here brings the ten to two.” (Poole)

I at times have difficulty with number two and have to remind myself, Jesus loves them too.

Blessings 

1 Kings 6:7-10 Boards Of Cedar!

 ”And the temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built. The doorway for the middle story was on the right side of the temple. They went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle to the third. So he built the temple and finished it, and he paneled the temple with beams and boards of cedar. And he built side chambers against the entire temple, each five cubits high; they were attached to the temple with cedar beams.“ ‭‭I Kings‬ ‭6‬:‭7‬-‭10‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. No hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built: The stones used to build the temple were all cut and prepared at another site. The stones were only assembled at the building site of the temple.

i. This speaks to the way God wants His work done. The temple had to be built with human labor. God did not and would not send a team of angels to build the temple. Yet Solomon did not want the sound of man’s work to dominate the site of the temple. He wanted to communicate, as much as possible, that the temple was of God and not of man.

ii. This speaks to the way God works in His people. Often the greatest work in the Kingdom of God happens quietly. Yet the building site of the temple was only quiet because there was a lot of noise and diligent work at the quarry.

iii. This speaks to God’s work in the church. “But why is this so particularly marked? Is it not because the temple was a type of the kingdom of God; and the souls of men are to be prepared here for that place of blessedness? There, there is no preaching, exhortations, repentance, tears, cries, nor prayers; the stones must be all squared and fitted here for their place in their New Jerusalem” (Clarke).

b. He paneled the temple with beams and boards of cedar: These were some of the finest building materials available. The impression is of a magnificent building.

c. He built side chambers against the entire temple: This describes the rooms adjacent to the temple, surrounding it on the north, west, and south sides. These side chambers were built in three stories. (Guzik)

Boards of Cedar!

One thing I noticed that is omitted, the smell of the cedar throughout the temple! It’s known for its qualities, preventing rot and particularly its odor that protects from pests and insects.

I’ve always enjoyed woodworking with cedar, especially when it’s cut. Cedar is used for split rail fencing, to line closets and chests for protecting clothing especially wool.

Have you ever smelled cedar?

Blessings 

1 Kings 6:1-6 By The Spirit!

 ”And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord. Now the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits. The vestibule in front of the sanctuary of the house was twenty cubits long across the width of the house, and the width of the vestibule extended ten cubits from the front of the house. And he made for the house windows with beveled frames. Against the wall of the temple he built chambers all around, against the walls of the temple, all around the sanctuary and the inner sanctuary. Thus he made side chambers all around it. The lowest chamber was five cubits wide, the middle was six cubits wide, and the third was seven cubits wide; for he made narrow ledges around the outside of the temple, so that the support beams would not be fastened into the walls of the temple.“ I Kings‬ ‭6‬:‭1‬-‭6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. In the four hundred and eightieth year: This marking point shows just how long Israel lived in the Promised Land without a temple. The tabernacle served the nation well for more than 400 years. The prompting to build the temple was more at the direction and will of God than out of absolute necessity.

i. The date in 1 Kings 6:1 also gives a marking point for the Exodus. As many suppose, the reign of Solomon began in 971 b.c. and ended at 913 b.c. (the temple was begun in 967 b.c.). This means that the Exodus took place in 1447 b.c.

b. He began to build the house of the LORD: This was when the actual construction began. Solomon probably started to organize the work right away. There is some evidence that it took three years to prepare timber from Lebanon for use in building. If Solomon began the construction of the temple in the fourth year of his reign, he probably started organizing the construction in the very first year of his reign.

i. Yet the work was carefully organized and planned even before Solomon became king. 1 Chronicles 28:11-12 tells us, Then David gave his son Solomon the plans for the vestibule, its houses, its treasuries, its upper chambers, its inner chambers, and the place of the mercy seat; and the plans for all that he had by the Spirit, of the courts of the house of the LORD, of all the chambers all around, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries for the dedicated things.

ii. The writer of 1 Kings never tells us exactly where the temple was built, but the writer of 2 Chronicles tells us that it was built on Mount Moriah (2 Chronicles 3:1), the same place where Abraham went to sacrifice Isaac and Jesus would be crucified (on another part of the hill).

c. The house which King Solomon built for the LORD: This chapter describes the building of the temple and its associated areas. There are four main structures described.

· The temple proper (the house which King Solomon built), divided into two rooms (the holy place and the most holy place).

· The vestibule or entrance hall on the east side of the temple proper (the vestibule in front of the sanctuary). It was thirty feet (10 meters) wide and fifteen feet (5 meters) deep, and the same height as the temple proper.

· The three-storied side chambers (chambers all around) which surrounded the temple proper on the north, south, and west sides.

· A large courtyard surrounding the whole structure (the inner court mentioned in 1 Kings 6:36).

d. Its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits: Assuming that the ancient cubit was approximately 18 inches (perhaps one-half meter), this means that the temple proper was approximately 90 feet (30 meters) long, 30 feet (10 meters) wide, and 45 feet (15 meters) high. This was not especially large as ancient temples go, but the glory of Israel’s temple was not in its size.

i. Allowing for the outside storage rooms, the vestibule, and the estimated thickness of the walls, the total size of the structure was perhaps 75 cubits long (110 feet, 37 meters) and 50 cubits wide (75 feet, 25 meters).

ii. The dimensions of the temple also tell us that it was built on the same basic design as the tabernacle, but twice as large. This means that Solomon meant the temple to be a continuation of the tabernacle.

e. He built chambers all around: These seem to be side rooms adjacent to the temple, yet not structurally part of the temple. The New International Version translates 1 Kings 6:5: Against the walls of the main hall and inner sanctuary he built a structure around the building, in which there were side rooms.

(Guzik)

By The Spirit!

David had all the plans for the temple by the Spirit!

Likewise,

”But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.“

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

”Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.“

‭‭1 Corinthians‬ ‭6‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭BSB‬‬

Is the Holy Spirit in you?

Blessings

Indwelling-of-the-Holy-Spirit.html

1 Kings 5:15-18 Foundations!

 ”Solomon had seventy thousand who carried burdens, and eighty thousand who quarried stone in the mountains, besides three thousand three hundred from the chiefs of Solomon’s deputies, who supervised the people who labored in the work. And the king commanded them to quarry large stones, costly stones, and hewn stones, to lay the foundation of the temple. So Solomon’s builders, Hiram’s builders, and the Gebalites quarried them; and they prepared timber and stones to build the temple.“

‭‭I Kings‬ ‭5‬:‭15‬-‭18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Seventy thousand who carried burdens, and eighty thousand who quarried stone: This seems to describe the number of Canaanite slave laborers that Solomon used.

i. Ginzberg relates some of the legends surrounding the building of the temple. “During the seven years it took to build the Temple, not a single workman died who was employed about it, nor even did a single one fall sick. And as the workmen were sound and robust from first to last, so the perfection of their tools remained unimpaired until the building stood complete. Thus the work suffered no sort of interruption” (Ginzberg).

b. Besides three thousand three hundred from the chiefs of Solomon’s deputies: This was the middle management team administrating the work of building the temple.

c. Costly stones: This is literally quality stones, showing that Solomon used high-quality materials even in the foundation where the stones could not be seen.

i. This speaks to the way we should work for God. We don’t work for appearance only, but also to excel in the deep and hidden things. “I want, dear friends, to urge that all our work for God should be done thoroughly, and especially that part of it which lies lowest, and is least observed of men” (Spurgeon).

ii. This speaks to the way God works in us. He works in the deep and hidden things when others are concerned with mere appearances. “We have been the subjects of a great deal of secret, unseen, underground work. The LORD has spent upon us a world of care. My brother, you would not like to unveil those great searchings of heart of which you have been the subject. You have been honored in public; and, if so, you have had many a whipping behind the door lest you should glory in your flesh… All those chastenings, humblings, and searchings of heart have been a private laying of foundations for higher things” (Spurgeon).

iii. This speaks to the way God builds the church. He wants to do a work of deep, strong foundations instead of a work a mile wide but an inch deep. “To maintain solid truth you need solid people. Vital godliness is therefore to be aimed at. Twenty thousand people, all merely professing faith, but having no energetic life, may not have grace enough among them to make twenty solid believers. Poor, sickly believers turn the church into an hospital, rather than a camp” (Spurgeon).

d. The Gebalites quarried them: “Some suppose that these Giblites were the inhabitants of Biblos, at the foot of Mount Libanus, northward of Sidon, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea” (Clarke).

(Guzik)

Foundations!

“All those chastenings, humblings, and searchings of heart have been a private laying of foundations for higher things” (Spurgeon).

I don’t believe I can count the number of chastenings, humblings and searchings of my heart!

Can you count yours?

Blessings 

1 Kings 5:13-14 Delegated Responsibility

 ”Then King Solomon raised up a labor force out of all Israel; and the labor force was thirty thousand men. And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month in shifts: they were one month in Lebanon and two months at home; Adoniram was in charge of the labor force.“ ‭‭

I Kings‬ ‭5‬:‭13‬-‭14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. The labor force was thirty thousand men: This huge labor force shows the temple could only be built when Israel could afford the manpower and the materials. It could only be built under the peace and prosperity won by David and enjoyed by Solomon.

b. Adoniram was in charge of the labor force: Solomon’s wisdom was evident in the way he employed this great workforce. First, he wisely delegated responsibility to men like Adoniram. Second, instead of making the Israelites work constantly away from Israel and home, he worked them in shifts. (Guzik)

Delegated Responsibility 

Like Solomon delegating responsibility, you could say Jesus has delegated a responsibility to Christians!

”And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.“ Mark‬ ‭16‬:‭15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

May I ask you this important question, what are you doing for His kingdom?

Blessings 

1 Kings 5:7-12 Blessed be the Lord!

 ”So it was, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly and said, Blessed be the Lord this day, for He has given David a wise son over this great people! Then Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: I have considered the message which you sent me, and I will do all you desire concerning the cedar and cypress logs. My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon to the sea; I will float them in rafts by sea to the place you indicate to me, and will have them broken apart there; then you can take them away. And you shall fulfill my desire by giving food for my household. Then Hiram gave Solomon cedar and cypress logs according to all his desire. And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kors of wheat as food for his household, and twenty kors of pressed oil. Thus Solomon gave to Hiram year by year. So the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as He had promised him; and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty together.“ I Kings‬ ‭5‬:‭7‬-‭12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

a. Blessed be the LORD: We can’t say if Hiram was a saved man, but he certainly respected the God of Israel. This was no doubt due to David’s godly influence on Hiram.

b. And you shall fulfill my desire by giving food for my household: Solomon offered Hiram whatever he wanted as payment for the timber to build the temple (1 Kings 5:6). Hiram did not take unfair advantage, asking only for food for his household.

i. At the same time, Hiram did expect to be paid. His service and the service of His people were not a gift or a sacrifice. “There are a good many people who get mixed up with religious work, and talk as if it were very near their hearts, who have as sharp an eye to their own advantage as he had. The man who serves God because he gets paid for it, does not serve Him” (Maclaren).

c. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon: Solomon, in his God-given wisdom, continued the friendly relationship between Israel and Lebanon. (Guzik)

Blessed be the LORD!

"Blessed be the Lord" is a phrase used to express praise and reverence for God, acknowledging His goodness and mercy. It is often found in biblical texts, emphasizing gratitude and worship towards the divine. (Bible Hub)

We thank the Lord for His daily provisions, the house that shelters us and all the blessings He bestows on us. Blessed be the Lord!

Do you express praise and reverence for God?

Blessings 

Blessed be the Lord!