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Kings chapter 6 details the design and decoration of Solomon’s
temple. As we read the description and note the materials used, we
notice a striking contrast to the Tabernacle (tent) that God
originally instructed Moses to build. The tabernacle was, portable,
mobile and simple in outward appearance. Most importantly a tent is
designed to be temporary. Solomon’s Temple was none of those
things. The idea of building a temple for God was David’s. We
somehow feel more secure in a sturdy building, but God wanted His
people to put their confidence in Him rather than stone walls. The
chapter begins,
“In
the four hundred and eightieth year after the Israelites had come out
of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the
month of Ziv, the second month, he began to build the temple of the
Lord“.
Solomon wasted no time in beginning the construction. We read it
was to be “sixty
cubits long, twenty wide and thirty high“.
The
temple itself was about 90 feet long, 30 feet wide and 45 feet high.
Not a giant building, but remember the only people allowed to go
inside were the priests; the people remained outside the walls.
The
layout was similar to the Tabernacle except larger, “He
partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar
boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner
sanctuary, the Most Holy Place… He prepared the inner sanctuary
within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there…
In the inner sanctuary he made a pair of cherubim of olive wood… He
overlaid the cherubim with gold“.
“The
inside of the temple was cedar; carved with gourds and open flowers…
no stone was to be seen… Solomon covered the inside of the temple
with pure gold… He also covered the floors of both the inner and
outer rooms of the temple with gold“.
The chapter ends, “In
the eleventh year in the month of Bul, the eighth month, the temple
was finished in all its details according to its specifications. He
had spent seven years building it“.
In
the midst of construction, God gave Solomon a conditional promise,
“As
for this temple you are building,
if
you follow my decrees, carry out my regulations and keep all my
commands and obey them, I will fulfill through you the promise I gave
to David your father. And I will live among the Israelites and will
not abandon my people Israel“.
Almost as if God is telling him, since you want to trust in stone
walls, rather than My mercy, then you must follow My laws perfectly.
That is a frightening concept to me because it is impossible. I
spent a good part of my life with the mistaken understanding that if
I was good enough, I could earn God’s blessings. That is an
exhausting and uncertain way to live.
The
temple was never supposed to be anything but temporary as a reminder
to God’s people that Messiah was coming. In the Gospel of John,
chapter 2, Jesus told the Jewish leaders,
“Destroy
this temple, and in three days I will raise it up“.
They, of course, thought he was talking about the building, but the
apostle wrote, “But
He was speaking of the temple of His body“.
By putting our confidence in the finished work of Christ, we can
rest. “Let
us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall
according to the same example of disobedience“.
(Hebrews 4:11) Where do you place your confidence?