2
Chronicles chapter 3 literally lays the foundation for the Temple.
It would become the fulfillment of David’s desire and the place
where God Almighty would dwell. It was built “in
Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father
David. It was on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite“.
After years of preparation the actual construction began. “Then
Solomon began to build the temple of the Lord… on the second day of
the second month in the fourth year of his reign“.
It was a medium sized building with a front porch that was the only
“room” the people could see. “The
foundation… was sixty cubits long and twenty cubits wide… The
portico at the front of the temple was twenty cubits long across the
width of the building and twenty cubits high“.
The
word “Cubit” comes from the Latin cubitum, meaning “elbow”.
It represented the length from a man’s elbow to the tip of his
middle finger, or about 18 inches long. From the outside, the Temple
probably looked like any other rectangular municipal building.
Inside
the Temple was a different story. “He
overlaid the inside with pure gold…He overlaid the ceiling beams,
doorframes, walls and doors of the temple with gold, and he carved
cherubim on the walls“.
The Temple was divided into the Holy Place, where the priests would
minister, and the Most Holy Place, where the Ark of the Covenant
would rest. This Most Holy Place was visited by the High Priest only
one time a year to sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice for atonement.
The two rooms were separated by a “curtain
of blue, purple and crimson yarn and fine linen, with cherubim worked
into it“.
“He
built the Most Holy Place… overlaid the inside with six hundred
talents of fine gold. The gold nails weighed fifty shekels. He also
overlaid the upper parts with gold“.
It is estimated that over 23 tons of gold was used in the inside of
the Temple. Inside the “Most
Holy Place he made a pair of sculptured cherubim and overlaid them
with gold. The total wingspan of the cherubim was twenty cubits“.
These massive winged creatures stood wing tip to wing tip touching
both walls. They were a reminder that this place represented the
very throne room of God in heaven.
The
chapter ends with a description of the front Portico of the Temple
and the two bronze pillars, “which
together were thirty-five cubits tall…one to the south and one to
the north“.
Remember, all of the sacrifices took place outside
the Temple. The location of the Temple was significant. Genesis
chapter 22 describes the prophetic story of God providing a
substitutionary sacrifice to Abraham in place of his son Isaac. On
Mount Moriah, Abraham declared, “My
son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering“.
Centuries later it would become the one place of atonement for all.
The highest point of this series of hills is called Golgotha. It is
on this hill that Jesus was crucified. Hebrews 10:12 says, “But
this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat
down at the right hand of God”
paying the debt of sin once and for all. As a sign of God’s
acceptance, Matthew 27:51 says at the death of the Savior, “Then,
behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom”
forever conquering the sin that separates sinful man from our Holy
God. The foundation has been set for your eternity. Will you trust
the finished work of Christ?